Oz and the Lure of Origins

Despite middling reviews and an uneven execution, Oz The Great and Powerful has already become a bona fide hit and launched the development of a sequel.

Oz and its ilk prove how much we can always fall in love with an origin story.

That’s because 1939’s The Wizard of Oz (its own sort of remake) is basically part of our society’s mythology, with Dorothy and the Tin Man standing in for Odysseus and Achilles. Why wouldn’t we be interested in a story that portends to illuminate how they, or at least the world they encountered, was made?